Karen Bradley has been accused of causing hurt to the families of those killed on Bloody Sunday and in the Ballymurphy massacre.
Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

The embattled Northern Ireland secretary, Karen Bradley, is facing growing pressure to quit after a former police ombudsman in the region said her comments about deaths at the hands of soldiers during the Troubles showed “a complete disregard for the operation of the rule of law”.

Nuala O’Loan said she had never before publicly called for anyone’s resignation, but that Bradley should be fired if she refused to quit.

Bradley was forced into a humiliating apology on Thursday for saying that deaths caused by police and soldiers during the Troubles were not crimes.

Relatives of civilians killed said the apology was “too little too late”.

They also accused her of trying to interfere with a decision, expected next week, on whether to prosecute soldiers involved in the killing of 14 civilians on Bloody Sunday in 1972.

Lady O’Loan said Bradley’s remarks demonstrated such ignorance of history that she had no credible future as secretary of state.

O’Loan said the remarks showed “a mindset which is incompatible with the office of secretary of state” and if she did not quit Theresa May should fire her. She added: “She doesn’t understand the history of Northern Ireland … the extent to which police officers and members of the military were involved in crime and have been convicted of crime.”

May’s spokeswoman defended Bradley, praising work such as maintaining public services amid the suspension of the Stormont executive.

The spokeswoman said: “She has acknowledged the language she used was wrong and apologised for the offence that it caused. She has a strong track record in her post.”

The Irish prime minister, Leo Varadkar, said her comments were “wrong” given the ongoing search for answers from some victims’ families, while his deputy, Simon Coveney, who met Bradley in London on Wednesday night, said “the timing couldn’t be worse”.

Tony Lloyd, the shadow Northern Ireland secretary, said O’Loan’s comments showed that Bradley no longer had the credibility she needed to stay in her job.

“This was not just a gaffe and Bradley did not simply ‘misspeak’. What she said reflected a disturbing pattern, with her and the prime minister having made a succession of baseless claims about military personnel being treated unfairly compared to others,” he said. “If Theresa May can’t find a replacement, they must finally tell us what the government is going to do with Northern Irish legacy cases.”

The controversy erupted after Bradley told the House of Commons on Wednesday that soldiers and police involved in killings were “people acting under orders and instructions, fulfilling their duties in a dignified and appropriate way”.

She said that “over 90% of the killings during the Troubles were at the hands of terrorists” and that “the under 10% that were at the hands of the military and police were not crimes”.

Bradley appeared to realise her mistake on Wednesday, but critics say her failure to apologise immediately showed she was not fit for the post.

On Thursday she admitted she was “profoundly sorry for the offence and hurt that my words have caused”.

She added: “The language was wrong and, even though this was not my intention, it was deeply insensitive to many of those who lost loved ones.”

John Kelly, whose teenage brother, Michael, was killed on Bloody Sunday, said: “I feel very angry about what Karen Bradley said. Her credibility has gone now, especially within the nationalist community who lost loved ones.

“Her position is now untenable. Other families are very annoyed. She did this without thinking about the hurt she was creating. She must have known the question before she opened her mouth. There’s no way we can deal with her in the future. She is damaged goods, there is no point in her staying any longer and she should go.”

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Kelly also accused her of trying to influence next week’s decision.

John Teggart, whose father, Daniel, was killed by soldiers in the Ballymurphy massacre in 1971, told reporters that Bradley had “caused deep hurt”.

Speaking in front of other relatives of the victims, he said: “She insulted the families yesterday. She spoke of how she felt. She wasn’t reading from a script when she said the crimes in Ballymurphy were not crimes. Her apology is too little, too late.”

In the early hours of Friday, it emerged that the families of those killed in the massacre had rejected the offer of a meeting with Bradley and called on her to resign.

“Ballymurphy massacre families have been requesting a meeting with the secretary of state since she took up her position of secretary of state for Northern Ireland. Karen Bradley hasn’t even replied to these requests,” they said. “Tonight, we find that she would like to meet us tomorrow to apologise for the hurt she has caused. We will not meet her and have one request for Mrs Bradley and that is for her to resign immediately.”

The outcry over Bradley’s remarks comes as a poll showed that more than three quarters of Northern Irish voters are dissatisfied with both the DUP and May’s handling of Brexit.

An Irish Times poll found 67% of voters say the DUP is doing a bad job representing the region at Westminster, while 69% of people – including 57% of those from a Protestant background – are dissatisfied with the DUP’s leader, Arlene Foster.